Stanley Cup engraving stirs row over Hurricanes owner's family
ESPN's Dan Wetzel criticized Carolina for adding owner Tom Dundon's wife and five children to the Stanley Cup after the Hurricanes' title.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Carolina Hurricanes put 53 names on the Stanley Cup after winning the NHL championship last month, and ESPN senior writer Dan Wetzel says seven of them are the problem: owner Tom Dundon, his wife and their five children.
Wetzel reported that the Hurricanes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in six games, then added a championship list that includes captain Jordan Staal, defenseman Jaccob Slavin and coach Rod Brind'Amour. The Cup now has 3,542 names engraved on it, according to Wetzel, in a tradition that dates to 1907.
His criticism centers on the Dundon family entries. Wetzel wrote that Dundon is customarily eligible as the team owner, but that his wife and children, who he said range up to college age, do not hold official roles with the franchise.
According to Wetzel, none of those family members played, coached, scouted or worked in an operational job for the Hurricanes. He framed their inclusion as a break from the Cup's usual link to players, coaches and staff members tied directly to the championship team.
Who missed out
The debate has extra bite because some hockey people connected to Carolina were not included. Wetzel reported that longtime equipment manager Bobby Gorman did not make the list.
Forward Joel Nystrom was also left off, according to Wetzel. He played 38 regular-season games, three short of the 41-game mark that would have automatically qualified him for engraving under the standard cited in the column.
Wetzel wrote that owner relatives have appeared on the Cup before, but said prior examples involved wives or adult children who had titles such as co-owner, alternate governor or vice president. He argued the Dundon family entries push that precedent further because, aside from Tom Dundon, they had no listed franchise positions.
Wetzel also noted that Dundon made his fortune in the subprime auto loan business and bought the Hurricanes. He has also bought the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, according to the column.
NHL and team stay quiet
Wetzel said neither the NHL nor the Hurricanes responded to his requests for comment, context or perspective. He also wrote that both have declined other media requests since the engraving became public last week.
The column pointed to two older Cup controversies. In 1945, Toronto included the coach's 11-year-old son, whom Wetzel said was considered the team mascot. In 1984, the father of Edmonton owner Peter Pocklington was engraved despite having no role with the club, and the NHL ordered that name crossed out, according to Wetzel.
Wetzel placed the dispute inside the Cup's wider history. The trophy was first awarded in 1893 by Lord Frederick Stanley, then governor general of Canada. Its original bowl is kept in the Hockey Hall of Fame, while the working Cup has changed bases over time.
He also contrasted hockey's trophy ritual with other sports: the NHL commissioner gives the Cup first to the winning captain, who skates with it before passing it through the team. The owner gets it later.
After the season, Wetzel wrote, each player gets a day with the Cup. Over the years it has been used as a baptismal font, taken to Afghanistan during wartime and dropped into Mario Lemieux's pool.
For Wetzel, the engraving is more than decorative metalwork. His argument is that the names are supposed to mark the people who earned the championship through the team, and that adding an owner's family members without official roles weakens that standard.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.